Philly Future

April 26, 2006

I always like strolling down the produce aisles. Bright colors of reds, oranges, greens on both sides. Bags of [hopefully] farm fresh goods for easy pickings. At Whole Foods on South St [and I presume elsewhere] they have an endcap with a stack of funky produce.

We searched around for a bit wandering through the ground level pieces and ended up in a back room where I spied a staircase which could be a ramp and sure enough, that was it. We started walking up the ramp and I could see it, the inner side of the huge translucent blowup of the woman hitting her crack pipe. It's qutie incredible. It can be seen on the east side of 36th St, best viewed from slightly further up the street to minimize that huge tree. About thirty or so photos line the next ramp leading up to another set of rooms. In the landing area in between the ramps there's a slide show projected onto the large wall of Zoe's photos.

As we were walking up the first ramp, I started to look for Zoe. I've only seen a couple photos of her and a short video of her. I heard a voice and I thought it could be her. She was talking to someone, but I thought fuck it, she said to butt right in so I did. I tapped her arm and she turned around and she somehow knew it was me without me saying a word. We hugged and chatted for a sec and then I let her get back to the rest of her many many fans there.

Art's a very subjective thing. Honestly, I dislike most contemporary art. I just don't "get" it. A lot of that is my fault. But I just have a hard time relating to the vision behind a tangle of bicycle chains or a video of a picnic. It's just not me. I "get" photography and I love me some photographic art. Zoe's work is wonderful. It is documentaritive [is that a word?], novel and just simply beautiful. I know that many people don't "get" photography. I know that even more people consider photography "fine art" let alone, god forbid color photography! My heavens! How crass! Fuck you. But, then again, fuck me for not liking Jackson Pollack, right? Fuck everyone. Wear a dome.

Getting back on track... Take a stroll though Zoe's world and read up on what she's up to. If you like what you see, head on over to the ICA [118 S. 36th St] and see it in person. If you don't like her stuff, there's always tangles of bike chains, holograms, dioramas, shopping bags, picnic videos and much more fun art at the show.

After the May 16th PA Democratic Senate primary [vote Chuck!] I plan on heading up to NYC to see her 2006 Whitney Biennial work which is going on through May 28th. But before that, her "Under I-95" show is on for May 6, 1p - 3p, under the I-95 ramp at Front & Mifflin Sts. That should be a blast.

Tonight is the opening reception at the Institute of Contemporary Art at UPenn. Her Ramp Project reception runs from 6p - 8p at the ICA [118 S. 36th St.]. A little sneak peek as to what's inside over at her blog. I plan on being there and finally getting a chance to meet her in person! This girl needs a hug for all this work.

And yes, that's a photo of a woman lighting her crack pipe, you got a problem with that?

April 18, 2006

I took a stroll across South St bridge for the first time over the weekend. I had crossed it several times by car, but never on foot. I had been told by Miss Plum [one half of The Unharshed Mellow] that there was a good amount of graffiti all over the bridge and indeed there was.

The grouping above was my favorite out of them all. The double pasteup of W with his codpiece flightsuit with the infamous "Mission Accomplished!" as a header and footer juxtaposed by a graphic "No War" illustration. The "No War" illustration brings to mind Edvard Munch's The Scream, but this time, the eyes are covered, not the ears.

There still exists a blood-curdling inaudible scream coming out of the mouth of the person in the illustration, but now, s/he cannot bear to look at the atrocities behind them either. A soldier with a boot on top of a seemingly dead civilian and more soldiers standing on top of a tank. The tank draws me to the image of Tank Man from nearly two decades ago.

Politics aside, it's a nice walk and has a busy view back towards Center City. Twenty-three shots up in a flickr set.

April 14, 2006

I scroll through the listings on Philly Craigslist here and there seeing if there are any cool photo gig listings floating around in the art/media/design and creative sections. There are invariably postings looking for cheap wedding photographers.

I know people are trying to do things on a budget. I can very much relate to that. I know money gets spread pretty thin over the course of the planning of a wedding. Invites, food, flowers, the dress, the space, the honeymoon, the reception, the alcohol, the music... the list is fucking endless. But somewhere in there, most people are going to want some photos or video of the event. Something to remember it all by other than the divorce papers you'll be served with [face it, 50% of marriages end up in divorce let alone the not-so happily ever after ones].

Most weddings run about four hours or so. A photographer works waaaay more than those four hours. S/he is probably going to show up early to get those preparation shots. The wedding party yapping it up before the ceremony. Shots of things before everything is destroyed by those snotty nosed cousins running around. And some generic posed shots with the families involved. And then there's the four hours or so of the actual ceremony and reception. S/he usually gets a break at some point to sit down and eat a very quick bite and then shoot some more. After all that, s/he has to go home or to their studio and go through all those photos. 1000 shots could easily be taken. Throw out 500 off the bat through an initial edit due to things being out of focus, people blinking, someone running into the frame [those snotty cousins again ruining shit]. And then comes the real work.

Going through the 100 or so decent shots that you'll present to the couple. Editing them so that things look nice. Whether that be in the darkroom or on the computer via Photoshop. One way or another, you'll be spending another few hours preparing an edit to present, probably with 100 or so 4"x6" shots in color, black and white and sepia [oh how couples love that sepia tone]. And then the couple will haggle over which ones look good. Which ones they must have blown up, yadda, yadda, yadda. There will always be a question of "Didn't you get this shot of me and so and so?" And there will always be a shot or two [or thirty] that the photog didn't couldn't possibly get. The couple may make a big stink out of it, they may not.

So then the couple and the photog come to a consensus over which forty or so images they'd like printed. Varying sizes of wallets, 4"x6", 8"x12" and a few 11"x17" or 20"x30" prints thrown in to hang triumphantly in the living room or main hallway. Printing those takes time. Lots of time. A little trial and error here and there as well with different lighting and color combos in every shot. And then they have to be brought back to the couple for delivery.

I don't understand the couples asking people to do all that for a measly $200. They gotta be asking themselves, "Would I want to deal with myself for a measly $200?" and they'd probably say no, but they don't think of that. And even more so, I don't understand the "photographers" who are taking those murderous gigs at a measly $200. They're better off cutting out a meal a day for a few weeks to save $200.

April 12, 2006

You really can't beat the deal that Flickr is. They have a free membership option which allows your most recent 200 photos to show up through 20MB of uploads a month. For a $24.95 yearly pro account, you get 2GB of uploads per month, unlimited total storage and unlimited photosets to organize your photos by event/category. That's about $2 a month for a great community photo sharing site. I love it. I renewed my pro account last night.

Jeff Fusco, the staff photographer for Philadelphia Weekly is my favorite photojournalist here in the Philly area bar none. It was his photography that pulled me towards PW over the City Paper when Lady and I moved down to Philly almost two years ago. No offense to Mike Regan, his stuff is wonderful, but there's just an extra something to Fusco's shots for me. The above shot from Monday's immigration rally shows his greatness. I bumped into him in the fray, I was hoping he'd be there for awhile and he was. We chatted for a sec and I've been waiting for the shots ever since and he didn't let me down.

The rest of the online exclusive essay is wonderful [the shot of the little boy in full dress and the man screaming above the 'silencio' sign are two other favs], but this image sticks out for me. He's got emotion, he's documenting the rally itself with the prominent Mexican and US flags flying overhead, the sun is diffused through the flag offering up some not too harsh light and I think he's got some additional fill flash from the camera centered on the man's face and left arm.

I love everything about the photo. The only thing I don't like is that I didn't take it.

Photography drives a paper/magazine. Even if the writing of a publication starts to dip in quality, if the photography stays top notch, it'll continue to stay relevant. That's what an old boss of mine at VIBE told me and that's how VIBE was able to stay relevant for so long, he said. Their photography assignments and editing kept them at the top. PW's writing is top notch [so is CP's], but honestly, it's Fusco's photography that keeps me looking out for the yellow boxes every Wednesday. Seeing his stuff online is great, but nothing beats the full tabloid-page shots inside the book.

And congrats to the local alt weeklies for raking in a shitload of 2006 Keystone Press Awards in Division VI [.pdf].

April 11, 2006

My 400th post on my photoblog. It's of Central Café at Pershing Square on the south side of Grand Central Terminal.

I had about an hour to kill before my NJT to SEPTA train over at Penn Station so I walked over from Grand Central [with all my crap]. A flickr set here of thirty shots which includes a nice shot of one of my absolutely favorite bulidings, the Grace Building which has a sloping facade. That's not a wide angle effect there, that's how the building really looks.